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Driving Targeted Traffic to Your Website

By: Thomas R. Reich PhD

Driving targeted traffic to a small business website is the key challenges that “Internet Gurus” have to deal with successfully to be effective in their efforts. In the online world, it is all about targeted internet traffic that determines the success of a small business website in the effort of generating actual leads to the business itself.

Websites that are successful in driving targeted traffic to the websites blogs, end up generating actual useful leads to the business the website was created to promote. Even, a successful website has to consistently analyze and increase the online targeted traffic to its website to stay ahead of the competition.

The success of Google as a search engine has largely been due to increasing online traffic to the Google website and maintaining that market share by introducing new and technologically innovative services that are all within a targeted area of expertise. They give the visitor something of value, and that something of value is what the visitor is looking for.

One sure shot method of increasing the traffic to your website is to put the relevant keywords and phrases on the site. Also submit the site to the search engines for indexing. There are numerous submission services available in the online world that will allow a user to submit the website to multiple search engines. Including the relevant keywords, and phrases on your website, this will help increases the rankings of your website on the search engines.

With greater site rankings related to your area of expertise as defined in your keywords, there is greater traffic to the website resulting in greater numbers of potential clients.

A website is a marketing tool and it must become an information resource for knowledge seekers searching for information, this is how targeted traffic is attracted. Online presence increases the validity of a business and at present small to medium businesses will benifite from working to build a well run website, blog and information resource for their target market, this creates an authority site in your business, a website others will want to link back to as a resource.

Consistent analysis of wesite statistics must also be a part of any businesses activities, in order to keep track of relevant and obscure content. The site statistics may be analyzed to determine the sections of the website that are drawing greater site traffic and the obscure contents of the site may be replaced with the more relevant content. Online retailers may analyze the products and service that are drawing hits on their website and replace the obsolete content. Holding the attention of online consumers and visitors is the key to the success of any website, weather selling a product or service.

The search engine optimization techniques being implemented for the website should also be evaluated on a consistent basis. The search engine optimization services industry has also evolved into a multibillion dollar industry over the past years. Most of the Fortune 500 companies have an in house SEO team to consistently analyze the rankings of the website on search engines, why would a small business not want to do the same if they could – well you can.

Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process and the results should be consistently analyzed to determine, what works and what does not. Online marketing techniques such as Pay per Click etc, may also be used to drive traffic to your website.

The Key Phrases that are being searched and are getting the hits may be used on the website for getting greater traffic. Putting relevant keywords and key phrases as per the business purpose of your website is a sure shot way of drawing traffic to your website. Google Page Rank may be checked on a monthly basis to determine the site rankings.

Content Marketing Ideas That Attract Targeted Traffic

By: Thomas R. Reich PhD

Today, the best and most cost effective form of marketing is Content Marketing and great Content Marketing Ideas. Many times, even the best websites begin to get stale, with content that becomes repetitive, themes and keywords that become over used, so what can be done to keep a content rich website fresh?

We have developed 6 key content marketing ideas that can be powerful and at the same time freshen up that stale website. Really good Content Marketing Ideas are important to become an information source, an “expert site” and a celebrity of sorts in your industry. These ideas can help freshen up your existing online content library without re-inventing the wheel.

Successful Content Marketing Focuses on One Expertise, and Variations of that Theme:

The universe of Content Marketing Ideas is vast, it would be impossible to read even 1% of what is available on the internet in a lifetime. That leaves you in a predicament; how do you and your informational portal get found in that vast universe of information? The answer is simple; you get found in that vast universe of businesses by making your firm’s information portal unique with original content marketing ideas that are consistent and relate to your product or service.

In business you specialize and find a niche that fulfills a need. Content Marketing Ideas for your website must find a niche, and fulfill information needs. Once found it is important to fill that niche with every angle and every fact that covers that niche of information. Become the one best place for information on that niche, your firms area of unique expertise, an area of expertise that leads to your product or service as a solution to unique problems discussed in regards to that information which you have created as a service to humanity. Starting to get the picture?

Some business websites, in their attempt to become the one true source of information on a particular niche, give free video training, white papers even eBooks on that narrow niche. This goes beyond directly promoting the information portal and creates advocates in the internet world sending potential customers to your website to get the free material, prospects you never would have reached otherwise.

Email marketing can bring potential clients to your information rich website, and instead of being bombarded with “Buy my stuff.” They find the answers they were looking for. When it is time to buy a product or service that is a solution to their problem, who are they more likely to buy from? You, who has provided answers and information, positioning you as an expert in the field, or go back to the internet and search randomly for a solution that would come from a site without any detailed understanding of their problem.

Another great method to make you the information niche leader is to actually establish an information forum. That is a place where a community can develop around your niche expertise and discuss problems openly with each other. This gives you an opportunity to comment and recommend as a member of the group, rather than as a sales force. It is possible to develop a large following that will bring many others to your website, with little or no effort on your part.

What all of these things have in common is consistency, stay on topic in everything you do, everything you represent, all your social media, social sharing and every blog, and rigidly branded to your logo and colors.

If your narrow niche is Real-estate agents who are frequently driving to properties, you could introduce a series of pod casts that may help grow your community of followers. Also this real-estate website trying to be an information portal, would by definition, have to have a responsive site, a website that converts automatically to maximize viability on any device – be it phone, tablet, laptop or desktop.

Remember, do one thing well, concentrate on one narrow topic, be consistent, be relevant and be branded in all things. Have an active social media network and social sharing network; shear both new entries and occasionally the popular old entries. Make sure to update all information as the market and conditions change, even update the oldest pages of information from time to time and re-share.

Do all this, stay on target and your targeted traffic will grow consistently month to month.

Keep all Content Marketing Ideas Consistent with Your Established Party Line on all Issues, But Keep it Coming:

All Blogs and information content pages need to keep consistent ideas about what you are an expert in. By this we mean, if it is your company’s opinion that Red is the established color for a particular road stripe, then all information presented on that website needs to be consistently in support of Red used as color for that particular road stripe. If a law changes, or your position on Red changes, make sure all information on your website is changed to reflect that change in law or opinion. Leaving conflicting information will not only make your website inconsistent and confusing, and instead of being a reliable expert site, it becomes a place to avoid because of inconsistencies.

As your website becomes full of information and you reach 100s of pages of information, it is a great temptation to feel that’s enough information, and stop adding new information. Adding new information on a consistent basis is not only important to keep visitors returning, it also affects those rankings you have worked so hard to achieve. A website with no information for even a month becomes stale in the “eyes” of the Google, Yahoo and Bing’s Spiders, and after 2 months of inactivity, the sight is down-graded by search engines no matter how much information it contains.

I have dealt with many customers that after we built a great expert site with consistent information and posted consistently over a long period of time that, after differing periods of time, felt, “We can do this ourselves.” Unfortunately, after a month or two they stopped, possibly because it got boring. After several months of inactivity, a very popular website became stale and loses its consistent visitors. Even worse, it gets downgraded by the search sites, and soon the site is dead in the water. It is very important, if you are not a writer and do not enjoy researching and creating the consistent content on your websites chosen expertise, you should hire someone to keep the website fresh.

Content Marketing Ideas must be fresh and consistent. If they are, you will have success with building and maintaining an information portal or expert site for your product or service. That said, Content Marketing is slow going at first and is hard to define ROI from the growing content. These 2 factors make it hard to stick with a consistent long term Content Marketing Ideas program. This is human nature, but a consistent program carried out over time will increase your ROL, and a poorly maintained “Expert Website” will hurt your ROI over time.

The bottom line is to be consistent with the material you add to your Expert Website, and be consistent with postings and promotions of new and old blogs. Read over your older material, if it no longer applies to your companies party line, remove it, if it is just a few lines that are not consistent, change those lines to reflect your most recent position.

Finally, be prepared to spend time, money and effort to create and maintain a true information portal that, eventually, makes you famous in your market. Consistency will bring you increased and verifiable ROI over time by using fresh content marketing ideas every month or even more frequently. Once you start building your information content rich website, do not stop, always be reviewing, adding new material, and you will see your expert website grow into something to be truly proud of!

With Content Marketing Ideas More is Best

If you have not added to your legitimate Content Marketing Ideas in several months, in other words, some new fresh perspective on the chosen narrow expertise of the website, you must add content, or find someone reliable to do it for you or with you.

Don’t lose perspective, once your website has become an information portal or expert site, it is tempting to stop adding material. Do not fall into this trap, a website should be looked at as a living breathing thing, adding fresh material at least once a month keeps it fresh in the eyes of the search engines and with your frequent visitors. Remember Content Marketing Ideas develop over time, your targeted audience grows over time, and as it grows your results will grow exponentially, be patient and consistent.

Inject new team members and new information sources to keep your content coming and to keep it fresh, and don’t let inspiration fizzle out. More pages are better, the more good information that stays on topic and is branded to you, for example white papers, videos and blogs, that stay on topic, the stronger you grow as an information destination on that targeted need for information.

As content increases you will see an increase in true legitimate comments and questions. Make sure to answer these questions on the site and respond to the comments, to encourage personal contact with those commenters as a commenter. Remember that whether it is good or bad, they are a prospect, and giving correct answers can get the business. If there is a complaint, make sure to use it as an opportunity to clear up a misconception.

Do not copy and paste blogs from similar sites and post on your site, this is not only plagiarism, but will seriously hurt your standings with Google and Bing and Yahoo for posting unauthorized duplicate content. A guest blog from another site can be good if it is on topic and is truly original material, unique to your website and your website only. Get inspiration and ideas from other blogs, as they say, “there are no original ideas,” but be unique in the way you execute that information.

There are many ways to increase the volume of output to your website, without compromising consistency or quality. It is a good rule of thumb that Google, Bing and Yahoo will probably not notice your website until your website contains at least 50 pages of tagged consistent information, 100 pages gets some traffic, 200 pages and you start to hum along, and when you reach 500 pages, you will have truly arrived.

Remember, this volume must be achieved over months, and years, for 500 or more pages sometimes close to a decade. Here are a few ways to speed up the volume of your pages of information.

Post blogs more frequently, if you post once a month, increase that to twice or three times a month.

Longer blogs are better, when it comes to getting search engine attention, if you are doing blogs 400 words or less in length, that should be a press release, they should be 800 to 1000 words as a good minimum to shoot for.

If you don’t use pictures, start including lots of them, make sure they are tagged to your key word and have an explanation that matches your narrow information portal, also URL link them to your home page of the blog itself.

Try imbedding a video that is on topic, and if from YouTube, you have an endless choice to pick from and you are helping the video creator with views on their video while providing your reader with video reinforcement to what you are trying to teach or explain.

Experiment with info graphics, they can take time to create, but they take up a lot of space, and count as more pages. Info graphics also add a lot of interest to a blog which matches the subject of the info graphic. It may even be fun to use other sources of info graphics with permission, and since it is viewed as a picture in most cases, it is not duplicate material.

When you increase output of material on your website, stay on topic and keep it all branded to our standard logo and colors, you will see increased activity. If you are doing things correctly, you will have success. If you provide a unique information service in a consistent manner and on a regular basis, the search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo will send you more and more traffic.

It is Absolutely Essential that One Person or Firm be in Charge of the Blog Site – No Unauthorized Entries

It is important that your blog take on a character, one that speaks to your growing audience in a friendly and inviting way, in many cases using first person terms. The regular readers must see consistency, they need to be able to see the face of the blog talking to them, to build a loyal following.

Years ago, I was a professional and very successful music producer. I always told the artist, “sell yourself sell the group, the hits will sell themselves.” When people come to your website, and enjoy the style as well as the way information is displayed, they will be back. Make sure what they see next month is of the same nature.

You see how I related a small part of my past in that last paragraph? When you add a personal touch, just a drop, from time to time, the reader begins to feel they know you, and that is the very definition of keeping it fresh. If you ever get a message saying “when are you posting again?”, or “what happened to enter personal comment?” you have got the beginnings of a growing loyal audience.

In many cases, you were taught how to write for a corporation, stilted and stuffy, perfect and never in first person. It is important that you not be too corporate in your internet blogging, use first person and keep it a little personal. When a reader feels they are talking or listening to you, and the like what they read, they will be back. Finally, always stay professional, keep everything branded and stay on topic.

Some tips for finding that right person for the face of your blog:

Finding a grammar and spelling wiz is great for the proofing stage, since your blogs should always be proofed and proofed again. However, the writer needs to be creative and smart, not necessarily a perfect speller, we all have our strengths, find the best creative writer and get a great proofer!

Let that one person run with the direction and character of the blog, but you should read and approve of content. Make sure facts are straight and pictures are appropriate, it is still your company’s blog.

Let the blog master express opinion, relate personal but appropriate things, and complain about market conditions in a positive way. They can express points of view that follow company line but with a twist and express a unique personality. Basically, you can give your content some personality and, in the process, break it out of the typical corporate sounding boring rut.

When hiring a marketing firm or content creation firm; commit for a period of time, it will take 3-6 months to see any real results, give them a chance to prove their worth, let them develop a personality to your blog and your content marketing ideas.

Freelance writers can go rogue, even after great success they can just up and quit on you. Make sure you choose a consistent, reliable and affordable blog master, then stick with them and let them guide your ship for a while; give it a good chance for success.

Expect and use the terms I and Me in the blog, this gives the firm plausible deniability in the case that an opinion becomes different from a customer’s position.

Content Marketing Ideas Must Have a Narrow Focus

This is in essence, a review of the first 4 suggestions and a reinforcement of what makes Content Marketing Ideas into Content Marketing Success. Pick one narrow niche of knowledge, research that area of expertise and make sure it is an area that compliments your product or service. Then exploit that area of knowledge with blogs, white papers, pictures, info graphics and videos.

Stay on topic, be about one area of knowledge, add to that knowledge base every day, week, month and year, to stay consistent and be successful.

Many say they will run out of things to talk about with a narrow topic of information. In actuality this is not the case, by focusing on one area of expertise, you can research deeper, ferret more and more data out, report on the newest developments and with a little luck become one of the absolute best locations in the WWW for information on that topic. Can you see how that may bring you targeted traffic?

The deeper you get into your topic, the more you can research it and nurture the data you have found, use the facts and the side stories, and the more you find to write about. Data never ends, and when a website is done right, it will not get stale. The website will grow in stature and interest to its ever growing number of visitors.

If You Have a Scattered Website, Now is the Time to Change

If you have a website that gets little or no traffic it could be 1 of 2 things: Either you have chosen a topic no one is searching for or you have a scattered site without direction or consistency, possibly with less than 50 pages of information. You now have an idea what needs to be done to freshen it up.

Get some help from experts, pick a topic or even a different angle on a topic to freshen up a website that has been blogging on 1 topic with no success. For those that have just been posting blogs with no consistency, pick a topic and get started anew, it takes time but it does not take forever to see real tangible ROI results to this Content Marketing Ideas approach of website management.

These last pieces of advice are a whole different topic, but research your keywords to find the best keywords to affect searches of those looking for information contained on your information portal. Keywords help focus more on what your website is about, and helps search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo bring the targeted traffic you are looking for, right to your information. With the right Content Marketing Ideas, over time built into a true expert website, you will find the targeted traffic brought to your doorstep more efficiently than any other form of marketing that exists today.

Conclusion:

Boredom will happen if you do all the work on your own website, unless you are not only a content writer, but someone that genuinely enjoys the writing experience. There is an alternative, you can hire a firm like YourPMA.com and enjoy the help of a team that loves to market, understands consistency, and enjoys their work. There are many more aspects to online marketing that go into a successful Knowledge source website, but content consistency is top on the list. I hope I have exposed you to some of the specifics of Content Marketing Ideas and how to implement them on your website. If you enjoyed this blog let me know, and be sure to read the other blogs on every topic important to creating a great information hub around your website, social media and social sharing network.

Call or email us today:

Whether you have questions or need our help, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Professional Marketing Associates, Inc.

YourPMA.com

37 North Orange Ave

Suite 203B

Orlando, Florida 32801

Phone: 407-801-1PMA (1762)

or fill in contact info below.

At YourPMA, we pride ourselves in our commitment to detail and our motto which is:

Repetition + Reputation = Brand Recognition

When you contact us we help you with your most critical problem, the problem of time. Many companies today need to spend their time and energy in sales, customer service and delivery of the best product available to their customers. We make it easy, contact Your PMA and we become your marketing department, and we arrange and complete your marketing programs.

Whether it is Social Media set-up, follower growth and maintenance (we are top 5 in that area according to Orlando Business Journal) or video scripting and production, Your PMA can arrange it once you contact us.

Contact YourPMA today at (407) 801-1PMA(1762) to schedule an evaluation to see how we can help you become a celebrity in your industry. Customers buy from a name they know, “we make you famous in 6 months or less!” Then we keep you there, refreshed, current and relevant for years to come. all you need to do is contact us now!

What is Content Marketing?

Why Will it Work for Small Business

By: Thomas R. Reich PhD

Why is Content Marketing so important for small business? Because it is the one strategy that works to draw prospective customers to your website, prospects that have a genuine interest in your product or service. Also, it does not involve large amounts of hard cash to out bid larger competitors, just hard work and a little skill at content gathering and creation.

To be truly effective with content marketing, you must fill your web presence, social media and social sharing sites with content which truly answers questions that your prospective customers may have about your specific product or service not just about your business. To become the information site for answers to questions relating to your product or service a small business must present itself as a portal for expertise in the products or services they represent.

Every day potential customers in your area ask questions that can be answered by the advantages of a product or service you sell in that area. The trick is to give them those answers, without selling, but leading them to your landing page after they have been impressed with your understanding of the problem at hand.

Most marketing firms recommend traditional online advertising methods like Pay Per Click (PPC), banner advertisements, pop-ups, and video pre-rolls, which interrupt users when they’re searching for answers. These methods are somewhat effective, but at what cost? Research says 90% or more of all potential customers that click on PPC or banner adds click away as soon as they see a “sales landing page”. Not only have you lost a potential customer, you have paid for the opportunity for them to leave you site without ever finding out if you understand your product or service. Put yourself in the shoes of your prospective customers. When you’re online trying to find an answer to a problem, do you want quick, concise help, or do you want a sales pitch?

5 Good Reasons Small Business Needs Content Marketing

1. The most common way to get website traffic is paying for traffic (PPC), and it is expensive. The average cost for many industries to purchasing a single website visitor through PPC or Banner advertising is between $1.00 and $3.50 for each click.

Paying for online advertising is almost always inefficient for most small businesses. It can be expensive to the point of being prohibitive to get any real result, unless you are already an information portal. If you’re a locksmith with a citywide service area, paying $3.50 per website visitor simply makes no sense. For a business with a perfect website designed for converting sales to leads, a site that would typically cost thousands to design properly – a price that is already prohibitive to most small business – 100 website visitors purchased for $350 turns into 20 sales leads, which turns into five booked appointments. That’s a $70 advertising cost per new customer. For a locksmith who has an average revenue of $100 per sale, he’s already given away all of his profit before he even arrives at the customer’s door. Remember that assumes a top of the line website, one that stands alone in the market as the best website out there.

With content marketing that same locksmith could have gotten those same five sales leads, or more, for significantly less cost per lead. There is always a cost to the creation of the content, whether it is created by someone internally and then converted to SEO friendly blog, or created by a content creation expert, but that content builds and is always making the site better and better over time, PPC can be a one time traffic source and is then gone, PPC would then have no long term lasting positive effects on your website.

2. It is possible to generate far more leads with a well executed content marketing strategy, than with consistent PPC campaign. Small Businesses that use content marketing in a long term marketing plan generate 55 percent more website leads at a cost that is 62 percent less than leads acquired through paid advertisements, according to Hub Spot- an organization which markets primarily medium to large business worldwide.

This is more leads at less than half the cost, but content takes time to roll out and implement. Once in place and you have enough content for search engines to consider you an information source. At that point, your costs go down even further and the leads you get are for your company and its expertise not just your product or service. Here you can see the fundamental advantage of content marketing.

3. A recent study by MOZ shows adding one new piece of content to a small business website each week for one year produces search engine traffic equal to that from a $90,000 paid advertising campaign.

When a company uses paid advertisements, such as PPC orBanner ads, they are only displayed in the search engines while your credit card is being actively billed, that is the nature of that beast. On the other hand, new content on your website lives on and can continue to attract targeted prospective customers over and over for years.

This study shows that each well written, targeted new page of content containing only valuable information relating to the product or service the website represents, on a small business website receives an average of 55 new visitors each month. This also assumes that the content is not sales related but fact filled and interesting — that’s 660 visitors each year on average fore each well written and SEO targeted blog page. The effort to create a new piece of website content is made once, and the benefit continues without additional cost for a very long time.

Creating quality targeted and building information filled content on a continuing basis will yield cost efficient results over time. Even though the results of good consistent content are not instant, as are the results of PPC, the costs are far lower, and the results can be long term which will increase with time. A PPC campaign has its advantages in the beginning of a campaign, but may be replaced completely over time by a well executed Content Marketing campaign.

4. The more quality, targeted content, the more results you will see over time. According to HubSpot, a major research advisor in the online marketing arena, small businesses with websites that contain 50 – 200 pages of targeted information on their specific products or services get 300% more leads, than those small business without targeted information pages.

Each piece of helpful content on your website acts like a bobber on a fishing line off the side of a fishing boat. The more lines and bobbers you have in the water, the more chances you have of catching fish, aka clients.

The search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing care about the scale and freshness of your content. Larger (more pages of actual original content targeted to the website’s primary products or services and Keywords) and more recently updated (newly added quality material on a regular basis) websites achieve higher authority ranking (a type of ranking given sites that are information sources for a targeted topic). At that point, the search engines deliver more “organic” visitors to these websites. Remember, the search engines are the new Yellow Pages, so if your website is simply a sales tool, it needs to pay to get its traffic, – this should be obvious.

However, if that same website becomes an information source, for example how to deal with different locks, the locksmith we were talking about earlier is providing an information source for the public. It is part of the search engines’ duty to deliver answers to questions by the user. This is where “organic traffic” comes from. An information resource allows the search engine to fulfill its need to steer users to answers on a particular targeted question. When the user is on the site, they are likely to migrate to other pages, thus becoming a prospect. Do not miss the opportunity to ask these targeted visitors to sign up for a newsletter, giving you more opportunities to convert the prospect with EMAIL MARKETING, but that will be discussed in another blog!

If you have five pages on your website right now, the best way to get to 50 is to start creating one or two new pages of content each week or a few each month. Large sites don’t get built overnight, but once your website reaches a nice size you’ll have a valuable marketing asset that will catapult you ahead of your competitors online. Making sure you have a unique angle is also an important issue, but that is another blog onKEYWORDS and WEBSITE DESIGN.

So, what do your competitors plan to do with content marketing this year? Have you considered this? If you don’t get going on content now and make your site an information portal that search engines will send targeted traffic to for information, you may miss the boat. It takes time to build a proper information destination for your specific targeted products or services; the time to start is now!

5. You have heard Content marketing is growing. Until now many did not fully understand the true meaning of Content Marketing, what it is, how it works, and how simple it is to turn your website into an information resource.

The reality is, if you’re not creating new content on your website each week, you’re getting left behind. You should expect your traffic to shrink and to get fewer website leads over the next six months than you got over even last month.

There is good news and a competitive advantage to be had here. You have now been exposed to the secret so highly prized and talked about among big business, Content Marketing. Chances are, in the small business arena (5-100 employees) many of your competitors are not using Content Marketing yet, but relying heavily on PPC, this may be the competitive advantage you have been looking for.

There are many factors to be considered when creating content that is to propel a website to that status of “information source” or “Authority Site”. Content Creation, SEO, Pictures and how to place and link those pictures, Social Media and how it announces, interconnects and links new material to the world, and many other factors that can help generate “Organic Traffic”. Professional Marketing Associates can guide you through the sea of information out there, and bring your ship into a portal of information designed to steadily increase targeted leads the honest organic way.

Why Not Give Content Marketing A Try?

At YourPMA.com we have found Content Marketing is better because your prospects prefer it, it costs less money, it produces more sales leads and long term customers, it helps you beat your larger competitors and the marketing results you begin generating today will continue for a very long time.

The easiest way to start creating new content for your website is to launch a blog. Your first ten blog posts should cover answers to the questions you most commonly hear from your prospective customers.

Together we can work out a strategy that is targeted to your market and your customers. Combined with other services, YourPMA is in a unique position to deliver actual old school marketing along with the most cutting edge promotions possible. With our 50+ years of combined marketing experience and the hundreds of customers over the years gives us a unique perspective on how a small business works and thrives in today’s marketplace. Everything old is new again, and delivering a positive service to the market has come full circle, you’re rewarded with prospects and business in exchange for hard work.

Pinterest Tips to Make your Visual Obsession a Tool for Website Traffic

By: Thomas R. Reich PhD

With Pinterest, there are many Pinterest tip2 that can not only make you more professional, but make you pins more searchable. Other Pinterest tips here will help convert interest in your Pinterest site or Pinterest board into a direct path to your website. Matching the interests of your Pinterest site to the interests of your website is key. With this in mind, other Pinterest tips can lead potential customers or those interested in your cause directly to your website. Let’s explore a few of the Pinterest tips and improvements that can increase your website traffic, and like everything on Pinterest, with no cost other than your time and patience:

1. Start every Pinterest success story with the proper set up of your Pinterest account. Think long and hard, pick the perfect wording for your overall Pinterest heading, these 2 sentences are the thing visitors see first and should fully represent the overall purpose of your Pinterest account.

2. Create a “bug” that fits within the 300 by 300 pixel maximum spot allowed by Pinterest. This should not be an unlabeled picture, this represents you, your company and what you stand for. Pinterest Tips: This little “bug” goes on every pin you will ever post, so if you have a logo it should be there your colors should be there and look around there are lots of ways to be creative and still represent what your Pinterest site is all about.

Once you have picked and branded a Pinterest site, stay on topic. If you are a Tropical Fish fan and have branded a site for your hobby, create boards about fish, aquariums and the hobby, do not post-graduation pictures unless it is a Pinterest site about your family. If you own a paper shredding company, make boards about paper shredding, security, shredding machines – get the picture.

Pay attention and take care to set up each board in a unique way, write a good intro to the board, you have 3 or 4 lines here to describe what specific topic this board is covering within your Pinterest site.

On both the Pinterest site description and again on each individual board save enough space to put both your email and your phone number if this Pinterest site is being used to promote your business or organization. So often a nonprofit organization will expect interest parties know their contact, well today people need to be led by the hand.

Pinterest Tip: Complete all aspects of your profile, verify your website and list it, this will create a link on the front of your Pinterest site, also verify and include your Twitter site which will then be given a link on the front page of your Pinterest site. Link your email, Twitter and Facebook to the Pinterest account within the profile which will make it easier to log on and allow you to post new pins to twitter as you pin them to your Pinterest board.

Verify your website and input the code given by Pinterest to activate Pinterest analytics. With Pinterest analytics you can see who is following you who is pinning you and all kinds of valuable marketing information, all free.

Create a full description for each and every pin, it should describe what you are promoting or supporting your phone # email and website. This enables those who find the pin outside of your Pinterest account to easily get in touch with you, a great Pinterest tip.

Link each pin to your website. This is a process that can be done easily and has been described in my earlier blogs, just go to troblenreich.com and search Pinterest tip or email me at director1@gmail.com for more Pinterest tips

Pick images that represent what the title of each board represents, don’t just post pictures, post pictures the mean what you are trying to say, Pinterest is talking with pictures.

Bonus Pinterest Tip: Many make the mistake of leaving the first picture they post as the “key picture” of the board, or they spend a lot of time to pick the picture they like best only to find a better one half way through pinning to that board. Press change picture and scroll till you find the right picture, click twice on that picture and adjust it to fit the frame of the “Key Picture” as you would like it to appear.

Bonus 2 Pinterest Tip: Many do not know that even though the boards appear first to last as you create them in your Pinterest account, you can simply click and hold over the board and drag and drop each board to make sense to the visual story you are trying to portray.

Most important to remember about Pinterest tips, is to just have fun, if you are a visual person this is your medium, if you are artistic even better. If you hate pictures and would rather blog, then Pinterest probably will boor you, but I bet someone close to you may be able to turn your blogs into pictures and a visual story, this is what Pinterest and Pinterest tips are all about.

Ekkwell Water Life Resources Pond Fish Farms

By: Ichthyologist Thomas R. Reich PhD

No journey into the world of Florida Ponds and their uses could possibly be complete until we discover where all those fish we see in our local pet store come from! Dr. Thomas R Reich, PhD Ichthyologist takes us on a journey through the fascinating world of Florida Pond Fish Farms.

We were given a rare opportunity to visit the tropical fish production facilities at Ekkwell Water Life Resources in Plant City just outside Tampa, Florida. Ekkwell is the oldest active tropical fish farm in Florida and the center of American tropical fish production, and a well known research destination to Ichthyologists like Dr. Reich.

Since its founding in 1962, Ekkwell has expanded to be the world’s largest pond fish farm grower and shipper of freshwater tropical fish, globally distributing over 100 tons of livestock cargo monthly, making live tropical fish the #1 item shipping air freight at Tampa’s International Airport.

This is a very private family business, employing over 60 of the top professionals in agriculture production and pet industry distribution specialists working with the pond fish farm. Many things we were exposed to are trade secrets, and have never been seen outside the gates of this vast complex of pond fish nurseries, we thank the Hennessey Family for their generosity in sharing these intriguing sights!

Owner of Ekkwell, Jack Hennessey is very proud that Ekkwell Water life Resources has been awarded over 275 professional and Pet Industry awards, including, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year, US Chamber of Commerce Blue Chip Enterprise Award, US Chamber of Commerce Florida Small Business of the Year, and the US Commissioner of Agriculture Environmental Leadership Award, to name a few.

Dr. Thomas R. Reich explains that there are many types of breeding methods used in a commercial pond fish farm and very specialized methods and equipment used to produce the millions of fry needed to supply the never ending demand for high quality, healthy tropical fish for the home aquarium.

The job of the farm is far from over when the eggs hatch, months of work tending to the pond fish farm and years of experience and expertise combine to develop the tropical aquarium fish that will eventually be shipped and sold in retailers around the world to eager hobbyists.

Many of the babies are moved into the biologically rich outdoor ponds, which can be used to rear the young fish just about year round here in South Florida. After 8 weeks to almost 6 months, depending on the fish species, they are “harvested” through a process known as raking, which is done by hand in the ponds of the pond fish farm with 2 men and a special “raking Net”.

Up to hundreds of thousands of fish are harvested out of each of the 450 ponds in staggered intervals. The fish are then collected and put in special vats on a custom truck and transported back to the indoor facility’s acclamation vats, the first step on their long journey to your local pet store!

Ekkwell Water Life Resources is only one of the many uses of Florida pond fish farms. Dr. Thomas R. Reich encourages you to contact Florida Pond Management for all you Pond related needs and keep Florida’s ponds the best they can be!

How Good is Your Website at Lead Generation?

10 Ways to Improve Your Website Traffic.

By Thomas R. Reich PhD

Having a nice looking website is good, but having a website that inspires trust and motivates people to gives much better lead generation results. The key here is to make your website more “sticky.” This will keep visitors on your website longer and will help build trust, visitors that trust your site sign your registrar and the visit becomes lead generation. Below are several simple features and strategies that help make your website more effective:

1) Have a registration page or “newsletter sign-up” link clearly visible to all website visitors to convert a visit in to a lead genreation. This will help you build your email mailing list, keeping your visitors informed of success stories with a weekly newsletter.

2) Have an active blog on your website. Make sure it is updated 2-4 times a month with information that stays in step with your product or service. A blog discusses topics of interest to those who visit your specific site and help in turning a one time visit into a repeat visitor and therefore a lead generation machine.

3) Set up social media networks such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Brand them all with your logo and colors to match your website. Fans and potential connections know they are within your sphere of influence when they see your “brand” or look and this works as a net, a lead generation magnet.

4) Actively work your social media with interconnecting messages and encourage a steadily growing fan base on all your social media network nodes. Be active and make sure everything in your network is linked to your website and blog and make your enter on line network a lead generation machine.

5) Include a ”product or service page” which helps generate income and recognizes your most popular products or services at an introduction price. This also helps establish trust and lets potential customers know you have a variety of products and actively want their business, this is yet another facet of a lead generation machine.

6) Also include an “About Us” page which talks about the founder direction if the company but also has links to an employee bio page with information on your board and staff, also include any chambers or service organizations the firm is involved with. This helps communicate annual reports, accomplishments, new objectives, and unique projects and activities. This helps establish trust, transparency and confidence while also working towards lead generation. The reason you are marketing your website is lead generation, do not lose site of that fact, make sure to blow your own horn as much as possible, when a visitor comes to your site that is the time to let them know who you are and why they should want to find out more about you.

7) Have a “by now” with multiple options to purchase such as Pay Pal, Credit Card, pr online check etc. Include information regarding exactly what they get if buying on line and what guarantees they have if not satisfied. Finally, remember this is the ultimate lead generation, follow up with this on line purchaser and make them feel like a valued customer.

8) Add a store which can help you sell even more items, remember, getting a visitor to purchase anything even to download a free eBook is a lead generation home run.

9) Add short videos communicating your product, services, success stories or testimonials. This is very effective in connecting with people and getting them to take action, this is a lead generation home run.

10) Add an events page to announce your upcoming events, workshops, meetings or community service initiatives to ensure good participation. Having an active record of service to the community and sponsoring seminars and Chamber events, is a good way to encourage confidence by the visitor in your firm and thus, is a great lead generator.

Having a website is necessary; however it is critical that the website continues to grow with your business. By providing up to date content with useful information about your services successes and ever changing products, your website can build and retain a faithful group of supporters which will contribute to the growth of your organization, and ultimately turn your website into a self perpetuating lead generation machine!.

A nonprofit website serves as an informational resource to potential grant funders, donors, future board members, and constituents; therefore it is critical that you continually improve this valuable communication resource.

Replace Yellow Pages with Good Low Cost Marketing Ideas in 2014

By Thomas R. Reich PhD

Small Businesses can benefit greatly in 2014 from an improved low cost marketing ideas and plan or 15 ideas if you will. Many small businesses owners don’t see the need for a cohesive marketing plan, they think marketing is expensive and for larger companies. Let’s look at low cost marketing ideas that can really boost your small business in 2013.

To make this work, remember that in the past, every small business bought yellow page adds. The yellow pages are dead, but good marketing replaces its exposure, without some of the low cost marketing ideas discussed here, small businesses may be seriously underexposed.

1) Your first low cost marketing idea is to create and maintain a good functioning company website. Your website is you’re on line office, your virtual sales floor, the first impression many potential customers have of your small business and yes, it is your new yellow page add. Your website should also be an information resource for your products and services.

2) Develop a new brand identity; this low cost marketing idea may be easier than you think. How long has it been since you’ve updated your website or marketing materials? Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look and redesign your image, take advantage of the digital domain and the low cost marketing ideas they can get there. Customers and prospects respond to new ideas and information which has been optimized for the internet.

3) Survey existing customers, a low cost marketing idea which is easier than you may think. How do your customers feel about your products and services? Stay in touch through informal lunches or a professionally coordinated survey campaign. A survey is an excellent method for taking the pulse of your audience. The survey should include detailed questions about your products and services and how they directly benefit the customer.

4) Make a list of your strengths, this can be another low cost marketing idea generator. Are you the low price leader? Is your business the most experienced? Do you have the highest quality product or service? Try to list between 50 and 100 different and measurable strengths. This is a great exercise to develop new ideas for your marketing campaigns

5) Now time for an easy, low cost marketing idea, one you need to do now! The customer is always right… always. The time to prove this statement is when the customer experiences a problem with your product or service. Make a point to take responsibility and solve any problems that a customer might have immediately. Satisfied customers turn into repeat, long-term customers.

6) This next tip, is a low cost marketing idea if it helps you with the previous two ideas. Take a customer out to lunch. Now is the time to ask a reliable customer out to lunch. Touch base with them to see how your company is solving problems and meeting their needs.

7) Well here is the cost, though still a low cost marketing idea if you follow these guidelines. Establish an annual marketing budget. A good rule-of-thumb estimate for your marketing budget is 3% to 5% of annual sales. Retail businesses need to budget 7% to 10% of annual sales for their marketing budgets. Your budget should include a breakdown of all marketing costs including printing, social media, website maintenance and advertising placement.

8) Here is a very low cost marketing idea, but arguably the most important you can consider. Be positive in your outlook. It’s important to feel good about yourself and enjoy what you do for a living. If you have a positive attitude about your job, you will succeed by transferring that enthusiasm to other employees, customers and prospects.

9) *****A low cost marketing idea should always look at social media. Pinterest is one of the newest and most effective parts of a social media exposure program. You can find out more in these 3 articles:7 Free Pinterest Tools; Things to get You Noticed!

10) *****Low cost marketing idea #10 is to establish and maintain a good active Twitter account. To learn more about Twitter and how to make it effective for your small

11) *****Moving along with low cost marketing idea #11 have you fully updated your LinkedIn account on a regular basis? You must be at 100% on your profile, you need to update every week, you need a company page. Want to know more, take a look at:

14) *****The best low cost marketing idea I can give you is this. Learn how to connect your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and any other social media fads that appear in 2013 into a network. Learn how to use back links and directories. The more you work on your on-like presents, the more your small business will benefit!

15) Here is your top low cost marketing idea for 2013, in fact it is the most importaqnt idea you will hear in regards to marketing. In order for anything we have talked about to truly succeed, you need to develop a solid marketing plan! You need a road map, a plan to keep you on track to sustainable goals, and a ruler to judge your success. Part of this plan should include your established budget and an ongoing record of each fassett of your marketing plans success to determin what worked and what to rethink. All low cost marketing ideas are successful if you learn and grow from them.

Bonus Low Cost Marketing Idea: Consider hiring a marketing company to help you with a complete formula, if marketing is not your thing. A firm that does marketing for lots of companies can often deliver a great marketing campaign at a very low cost, compared to struggling with a part of small business that can confuse many. Be careful, there are a lot of firms that clams to know what they are doing, hire a firm that trains you to maintain your marketing plan.

www.troblinreich.com

With low cost marketing ideas generating help, a good digital identity, a well branded small business and attention paid to your customers and their needs, success will be yours in 2014!

Have Questions or need some low cost help making your marketing ideas get the attention they deserve, email me at Director1@gmail.com and I will answer you directly and quickly!

26 Ways to Make Pinterest for Small Business Work Better

By Thomas R. Reich PhD

Here we are, a new year and bright prospects with including Pinterest for small business account to generate ROI and real traffic to your website. Ever wonder why some competitors Pinterest sites have so many followers and some have none at all. Let’s look at a few improvements you can make to be a Pinterest small business superstar!

1) Make sure your profile is 100% complete:

A) Use highly relevant business name, not a slogan or personal name for best results with Pinterest for small business

B) Take time write a great “about” section, you only get 2 lines make them count!

C) Connect all your social accounts both in profile page and on connect page

E) Upload a high quality profile image or logo, this is what is tagged on every pin you make

F) Make sure to add your location, a US address is a comfort factor, French address gives an exotic impression, all a part of marketing yourself in the virtual world

2) Make a separate board for each keyword in your websites keyword list; this will greatly help in search engine SEO issues.

3) Give all boards a unique name, yes it should contain one of your unique keywords, but use the focus keyword in a title that attracts interest to your Pinterest for small business account

4) You should chose a board cover picture after your have populated each board with pictures, pick the picture closest to the keyword the board represents and make it one with a unique look that will attract interest, even with 100s of pins the visitor to your Pinterest for small business account will only see the cover picture, so make it count!

5) Use the Pinterest arrange board option to move each board to tell a story from left to right, top to bottom, don’t leave them in the default position or each new board will appear last in succession, bottom right.

6) Do not forget to add a category to each individual board on your Pinterest for small business account, by using the dropdown list called categories when writing the description of each board.

7) Write a great intro to each board, using as many keywords as possible along with the keyword the board is focused on.

8) Add contact to each Pinterest board in the board description section.

9) If you have a main keyword or keywords, you can do multiple boards from different angles on that one keyword.

10) Take time and write a good description on each pin, do not leave the default from where you pinned the picture from if it is another website. Remember if you pin from somewhere it probably already has a description, you can change this when signed in to the Pinterest for small business account in the description section of the pin itself.

11) Change the URL link of the pin in the same area as above, simply highlight the existing URL copy the best page URL on your website or blog which that picture could be directed if clicked on and paste it into the URL area. Now if that picture is enabled to lead potential customers from your Pinterest for small business site to your website.

12) Remember; the more boards with many pins contained in each that relate to your website, the more potential ROI can be attracted by your Pinterest for small business account.

13) Stay on topic, all boards should relate to your product or service as described in the site description section of your Pinterest for small business site. All pins should relate to the topic of that particular board description.

14) One exception to the above is 1 or 2 special boards you may create from time to time in different seasons to attract visitors to your site. An example might be a Christmas board, however the theme of that Christmas board should relate to one of your key words.

15) Go to other related boards that will allow you to pin to their boards and pin those pictures that directly relate to their site. Do not do this randomly have a plan and male sure the picture complements that site. These posted pins are free advertising to get potential visitors to your site so make sure the picture you pin to another’s site is high quality and relevant their keywords.

16) Do as many likes as possible on other related Pinterest for small business accounts. This will do two things; first it encourages that site to visit your site and like you back and second it helps to get your name out and around Pinterest.

17) Commenting on pins posted to other related Pinterest sites also serves to market your Pinterest for small business site throughout the Pinterest world. Make sure your comments are always positive, negative or controversial comments are never good in the Pinterest world.

18) Pinterest for small business gives you the power to invite board contributors. There is no better faster way to get likes and attract new visitors than to invite other related Pinterest sites to add content to certain of your boards.

19) Add a follow me on Pinterest button on your website and to your blog, this makes it easy for anyone to follow or even visit your Pinterest for small business site, now that they are already visiting your website or blog and interested in your particular brand.

20) Add a Pinit button to your internet home page, this makes you ready at any time to pin an interesting picture to your Pinterest for small business account. With a Pinit button installed you can instantly pin a picture from a website your are visiting or even image search you have done in bing or Google back to any one of the boards on your Pinterest site that you chose from a drop down list, you can even change the pin description right then.

21) Cross promote your pins to Twitter by checking the Twitter box at the bottom of the information popup page when pinning a picture to your Pinterest for small business board using the Pinit button.

22) Monitor what is trending in Pinterest by checking the “popular section” if you can create a board and pins that relate both to your product or service and to that popular Pinterest topic, do it and get increased traffic, but you must do it right then while it is a trending topic.

23) Use a little known app service called Pinwoot that allows you to follow like users and get follows back, also you can promote your pins and promote getting likes to specific pins within your Pinterest for small business site.

24) Whenever you can share original pictures of your products and services, of your staff, parties you may have, and any meetings you may have form time to time. Pinterest for small business gives you the opportunity to share the culture of your organization, and color it any way you would like, remember to always be positive.

25) BONUS#1: Remember always be positive in Pinterest, there are places to complain on the internet Pinterest for small business is not one of them, it is a place to shine and be as positive as possible at all times.

26) BONUS#2; Pinterest for small business gives you the opportunity to share playable videos from YouTube or Vimeo right on your Pinterest site by simply pinning them from YouTube and Vimeo and play from your pin without leaving Pinterest.

Finally it is important to make Pinterest for small business a daily or at least biweekly routine. You need to be adding and updating pins to stay current and relevant in the Pinterest search engine, yes they have their own internal search, so if you understand SEO and Keywords they are as important here as in a website. Also remember that Google and Bing routinely draw images for their own image search pages from Pinterest and yours may very well show up in searches outside of Pinterest so have them described and URL linked correctly to your website and brand.

As with anything in business, if it is worth doing it is worth doing well. If you decide to improve your Pinterest for small business account, use the advice above but remember this. Being consistent, being positive at all times and pinning a few things related to your business several times a week is the #1 piece of advice I can give you to improve your Pinterest for small business account, hard work and perseverance pays off in the end!

10 Reasons Why Concrete Best Material for Safe Rooms:

Interlocking Morterless Incablock is the Strongest Safe Room;

Like Amazon Prime Air it is the coolest New Thing

By Dr. Thomas R. Reich

Global Habitat Resources and their Incablock product researched for years to find the safest strongest materials for our new safe room kits, much like Amazon Prime Air we came up with a lighter than air solution . We found some very interesting facts:

1) Newly mixed concrete will harden even if it is under water.

2) Concrete was used extensively by the ancient Romans for a wide variety of construction projects, including buildings, roads and aqueducts, many of which still stand today, over 2000 years after the concrete was originally poured!

3) The ancient Romans used Pozzolan (volcanic Material) to add to the strength and durability to the cement.

4) The concrete used by the ancient Romans more than 2000 years ago is similar to the particular mix of concrete Global Habitat Resources recommends today for greater strength and durability in their Incablock kits. Much like Amazon Prime Air Inceblock has found a modern application of an age old delivery system.

5) Concrete produces heat as it cures further strengthening the permanence of its bond to the structure as a whole.

6) Cement is made by mixing water with a binding agent called “cement” along with other materials such as sand gravel or crushed rocks. When mixed with water the cement creates an adhesive that binds all the materials in the concrete together, turning block concrete into a solid rock wall.

7) The use of concrete nearly stopped about 1,600 years ago after the fall of the Roman Empire. Concrete was not widely used again until cement was rediscovered in the mid-1700’s. Pozzolan was not added as a strengthening agent until when Global Habitat Resources Incablock safe house structures recommended it in the formula, finally equaling the strength and durability of The Roman structures of old. Amazon Prime Air is a system that hopes to make an unmanned solution to shipping, as efficient as the traditional way of shipping.

8) Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials on our planet. It has again become a popular material because it is strong, relatively inexpensive, easy to use, nonflammable, heat resistant, durable, water resistant and can be formed into almost any shape.

9) Concrete, when properly designed as in the Global Habitat Resources designed Incablock kit for the perfect safe room, is far stronger and more durable than most houses built around the safe room concrete structure, and in many cases have been shown to survive the total destruction of the house itself.

10) Concrete, when designed properly, poured through concrete blocks and cured in the ancient traditions of the Romans by adding Pozzolan and additionally anchored to the earth properly, will greatly increase your chances of surviving an earthquake, Tornado, Hurricane or other natural disasters right in your own home. Amazon Prime Air will revolutionize shipping in much the same way!

What Is Cloud Computing?

How Does “The Cloud” Work?

By: Thomas R. Reich PhD

According to Forbes “Top Ten Strategic Technology Trends,” the Cloud is the next “new thing” to help make life easier for individuals. However the way industry experts carelessly toss around the word Cloud, it’s a wonder that most business owners or individuals alike know exactly what “The Cloud” is and how it can work for business? The goal of this article is to state in simple language what the cloud is, what it does, and how it can help business.

Very simply put, “cloud computing” is a virtual server available over the internet outside of your computer and adhering to extreme security protocols. The Cloud is not in the sky, it is not in a satellite and it is not totally new, it was once called utility computing in its earlier form. When referred to as “computing in the cloud” it may be referring to anything outside of the computer itself including conventional outsourcing.

In its simplest form, Cloud Computing is a way for the IT department to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud Computing is any pay-per-use service, usually subscription based or pay-per-use service that is delivered over the internet requires no physical equipment or space on site and extends or IT systems existing capabilities on site.

“The Cloud” is a term used by many companies marketing various services over the internet with varying degrees of success and security. The most common is secure backup, but investigate fully the firm providing the “cloud” backup before storing data. Some use facilities in one location others use up to 3 backup locations. Multiple locations are important during times of natural and man-made disaster. When Hurricane Sandy hit in the fall of 2012, data centers in the area were closed for up to 2 weeks. Cloud services based only in one location in the northeast had problems; those based in say West Coast, Alaska, and New York did not flinch.

Another popular use of “the Cloud” is for cloud based programs. Adobe now has its popular “Creative Suite” available as the “Creative Cloud”. The advantage of this is that you can store your files in the “cloud” as well and access your creative cloud set of programs from where ever you are in on the road, an Ipad or even in a customer’s office with your password, this is called SaaS or (Software as a Service). Now not only can you access your creative cloud but your personal files are there too.

The most common platforms and programs offered over the internet and referred to as “Cloud Computing” are:

1) MSP (Managed Service Provider); this is one of the oldest forms of the cloud and is usually part of managed services used by a remote IT provider. It permits a company’s systems to be backed up remotely, virus scanned remotely, or comb email for spam and dangerous viruses and malware, remotely, before such things even come in contact with a company’s systems to name just a few MSP services.

2) Utility Computing; this is the most common form of service that advertisers are referring to when advertising “The Cloud”. It is simply remote storage and backup with varying degrees of security.

3) SaaS (Software as a Service); with SaaS “the Cloud” allows thousands of users to sign in to one program and use it simultaneously. For the user this allows use of an expensive program for a low cost each month with little or no upfront cost. For the software provider it means only one copy of the program to service in one central location, rather than multiple customer sites.

4) Platform as a Service; this is a variation of SaaS, but it is something that really brings out the capabilities of “The Cloud” to the programmer. With Platform as a Service, the user rents only the capabilities of the program and computing abilities they need for the project they are working on. One use for this is for saleforce.com which lets you run virtually over the cloud in a safe secured environment and charges increase only as your sales staff and activity increases. Another use are utility heavy, hardware intensive protocols like animation programs with heavy rendering needs, users can now simply rent computing power for a few hours rather than upgrade in house equipment.

5) Service Commerce Platforms; This is a relatively new use for “The Cloud” and allows for things like secretary services, copy writing and copy editing services virtually over the internet, as if the worker was in your office on another computer station.

Cloud Computing is a term used in many different ways for a variety of products and services with never-ending list of definitions and nicknames. Remember when “The Cloud” is referenced it is referring to a service or program accessed through the internet outside of your geographical IT equipment.

With the internet rife with viruses and malware, Managed services are becoming a must. Good managed services will monitor and interact with your systems remotely. When you have managed services you are almost doubtlessly “Cloud Computing”